


Quite the Song and Dance

by vanishedSchism



Category: Young Avengers
Genre: F/F, Implied Relationships, M/M, jewishcomicsday, lots of food preperation, nowhere near as much eating as anyone would like, unexpected musical numbers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:51:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7065955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanishedSchism/pseuds/vanishedSchism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate invites the Young Avengers over to her house for Passover. Written for #JewishComicsDay</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quite the Song and Dance

“So you’re all coming to Passover on Monday, right?” Hawkeye said as she retrieved her arrows from the extraterrestrial goo. Despite the uptalk, Prodigy knew it wasn’t really a question. She turned around to smile at the team as she said, “Eli and I will be cooking all day.” 

Patriot, who had been wiping the goo off his shield, sighed, though Prodigy wasn’t sure if it was because she’d used his name in the field or because she was volunteering his services without so much as glancing at him. Whichever it was, he didn’t contradict her. 

Hawkeye smiled like she’d won some minor battle. 

“I think it would be super fun!” Stature said, ever the optimist. David had been concerned that when the team returned to New York City and once more absorbed its founding members, there wouldn’t really be room for him. He and Noh-Varr, who had both fucked up spectacularly on the ‘reasonable person having reasonable social interactions’ front, would probably get slowly shunted out of the team. At least Noh-Varr had the excuse of being an alien. David wasn’t even a mutant anymore, he really shouldn’t be having this much trouble- 

A light touch on his shoulder ended that particular line of thought. By the time he turned to look at the hero that had done it, Tommy was halfway across the street, pulling Billy’s - Wiccan’s hood over his eyes. 

“Youknowthere’snothingthatgetsmemoreexcitedthanfreefood,” he said in that rapid-fire way of his. If David had had any doubt that Eli and Cassie had been here since the beginning, it faded when he saw how effortlessly they listened to the speedster. 

Teddy smiled and helped Billy with his hood. “You’re always saying you want to share your religion with me,” he said to his boyfriend (wow how had David not noticed that) “this would be a great opportunity."

“And you’re all coming too, right?” Tommy asked, stopping shortly in front of each other member of the team, America, Noh, and Cassie, before stopping next to him. Their chorus of yeses were immediately followed by Kate’s Planning Voice and David decided to tune out for a bit, letting the people who knew what they were talking about figure out details. 

\--

“So,” America said as she watched Eli peel the skins off apples. “What can I do to help?” 

Kate checked the dish in the oven, potato kugel she’d called it, clucked at the oven like it had personally disappointed her and then ran out of the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “I need to get cushions, could you be a dear and move the books off the coffee table?” 

America walked into the living room and did as she was asked, spending far more effort trying to figure out where to put the books than she did actually moving them. She finally found a relatively empty drawer that would work for temporary storage and returned to the kitchen to be given another task. 

“Oh shit!” Eli suddenly exclaimed as he bent over one of the pots simmering on the stove. 

“I need to watch the fish why it fries, America, can you open the door for Elijah?"

Kate came into the room at that moment, carrying a plate bigger than her head. “But America, Eli is right here,” she said in that saccharine sweet tone of hers. 

“Hah!” Eli said from the kitchen, “as if I don’t hear that every year.” 

America laughed and opened the door. 

We'll pour his wine with everyone else's, Kate said, placing the large plate on the coffee table and then turning around to gather a number of wine glasses from a nearby cabinet.

It didn't take too long after that for Kate and Eli working together to assemble the large Seder Plate. Kate explained each of the ingredients as she placed them on the plate. Kate had made it clear that she would hear all about the symbolic meaning of the Seder Plate during the actual Seder but she quickly went over each of them anyway.

She was about to move on, after placing horseradish, the apple mixture, parsley, an egg, a chicken bone and a bowl of salt water on the plate when Eli stopped her.

"What about the orange?" he asked.

"The what?"

"You know, the orange." He frowned when it was clear Kate wasn't getting his meaning. "Umm, so this is the story my grandma told my mom. So when Susannah Heschel was trying to become a rabbi, she met with a lot of resistance, because there weren't really any female rabbis at the time. In fact, one asshole, told her, 'a woman belongs on the bimah as an orange on the seder plate' and so she responded by putting an orange on the seder plate. It supposed to specifically reference inclusion for women and gay people."

America looked at Kate and grinned. "I don't want to be sacrilegious, but I'm all for inclusion of the gay people."

"It sounds like I should go find an orange," Kate said, tossing a quick wink at America. She disappeared at the same time they all heard a knock at the front of the house.

Eli began layering cloth napkins over a plate full of matzah (she did know what the unrisen bread was, though she couldn't have said why) so America went to answer the door.

Cassie stood nervously in front of the threshold between 'outside' and 'inside'. "Umm, do I just come in?" she asked. "The door is open, but I don't want to mess anything up..."

"Don't worry girl," America said, "The door is just open to welcome in Elijah, you can come in."

"Ah, thanks. So uh, I don't actually know anything about Passover. I asked my dad, but he just said it was all about the story of Moses."

America put an arm around Cassie's shoulders and ushered her into the house. "Don't worry, Bishop promised it would all be explained in due time."

"Yup," Eli said, raising a hand full of battered looking books, "in step by agonizing step."

He smiled like America had tended to when she was about to bait Loki. What had she gotten herself into?

She didn't have long to wonder though, because the rest of the party arrived in a sudden wave, Billy and Teddy at the front, as usual, and David, Noh-Varr and Tommy lagging behind.

Billy immediately made for one of the cushions on the floor, getting up only long enough so Teddy could insert himself in between the cushion and the young hero. Billy laughed when Teddy made an undignified noise as his boyfriend accidentally elbowed him.

Noh-Varr rolled his eyes and moved to inspect the table. Tommy came in, grabbed the booklets from Eli's hands, distributed them around the room, then ended up at the table and began rapid-fire explaining what everything on the plate was. America noticed that he didn't pause, in fact he smiled a little, as he pointed at the orange slices.

She lost track of the time after that, but it was mostly mingling. Eli and Kate ran in and out of the kitchen, at one point Billy brought in a covered dish, and Tommy looked far too excited to be holding that much wine (even if he'd off loaded half the payload onto David). Eventually though, the food was ready and everyone was seated in various positions around the table with the seder plate and matzah.

\--

"Alright," Kate announced when everyone had settled in. "Who's ready to get drunk?"

She was answered by a hearty cheer.

"Fantastic. Everyone, grab a bottle of wine and your neighbor's glass. Eli, will you fill Elijah's glass?"

Tommy snickered along with Billy and America at that.

"Hey bro," Tommy said, pointing the neck of the bottle he was holding at his brother, who was sitting across the room. "Mind opening this for me?"

"Are your powers even Kosher?" Teddy asked. Billy shrugged.

"We're supposed to be celebrating the ease of our lives now, right? I don't see why not."

"Makes sense to me," Tommy said. He grinned as Billy closed his eyes and began casting.

Iwishallthewinecorksweregone. Iwishallthewinecorksweregone. Iwishallthewinecorksweregone.

That done, he poured the sweet liquid into David's cup.

As long as Passover was, there was a certain calming... ritual to it all. Tommy looked down and saw that his leg wasn't even bouncing.

"Okay everyone," Kate announced. "Grab your Haggadahs, those are the booklets, and open to the first page. We're going to stand and bless the wine. It's in transcribed Hebrew. I believe in all of you. Ready?"

Once everyone was standing, Kate began the prayer.

"Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu..." she began, among the rustle of pages and nervous voices as everyone tried to orient themselves in ritual and the language.

"...m'kadeish Yisrael v'hazmanim" they all finished at different times.

Kate raised her glass in the universal signal to drink, and then lay down on her cushion, looking exactly like a queen.

She walked them through cleansing their hands and eating the karpas, the little bit of vegetable dipped in salt water.

The next prayer went a little more smoothly, as everyone got more used to the Hebrew syllables. Tommy was unsurprised to hear that David didn't seem to be having any trouble with the language, but then it took a lot to make David have trouble with something.

They broke the matzah and began to settle into a rhythm, only briefly interrupted when they had to figure out who was the youngest.

People started looking toward Cassie and she immediately said, "Noh-Varr is an alien, he's been on Earth the least time!"

Everyone laughed as they realized that was true, and Eli nudged Noh until he relented.

"I just ask these questions here?" he said, looking at the haggadah.

"Yep," Billy responded.

"It is that easy?"

"Totally," Kate said, "it's supposed to be for the youngest after all."

Noh nodded and cracked his neck, making all sorts of inhuman sounds in the process.

"I believe I am ready now. So. What makes this night different from all other nights?" He didn't look at anyone in particular as he asked it, but Kate responded.

"On all other nights we need not dip even once, on this night we do so twice," she said. "On all other nights we eat chametz or matzah, and on this night only matzah," she gestured to the matzah on the table. "On all other nights we eat any kind of vegetables, and on this night maror," Billy made a small sound of disgust. "And on all other night we eat sitting upright, and on this night we all recline."

She looked up, addressing everyone now, and began the story of the slaves of Egypt. When she got to the ten plagues, the atmosphere in the room brightened a bit, especially as Teddy exclaimed, "Oh I know about this!"

"What?" Billy asked.

"I watched the Rugrats Passover special when I was a kid. It was all about the plagues."

"Do you want to recite them?" Kate asked. "When Teddy says a plague, everyone dip your finger in your wine and flick a droplet onto your plate."

"Yeah sure. Let's see. The first plague was blood. Blood rained from the sky, paintnig everything red and spoiling the water and Moses said, 'let my people go'. But the Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not let the Hebrews go."

"Okay, everyone spill your wine," Kate said, demonstrating how it was done.

Tommy fell into the lull of it, of Teddy's voice, of the repeated motion, and barely noticed when they finished reciting the plagues.

Now the prayers flowed smoothly together, despite the unfamiliarity of half the room with them. Tommy wasn't sure exactly what it was, but they were united by something, that was obvious by how well their voices fit together.

He listened as Kate explained the ingredients of the Korech, the bitter herb for the bitter life the hebrews lead, the pasty charoset for the mortar between the bricks the Hebrews labored on, the unleavened bread for the hurried flight from egypt..."

_Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, hamotzi lechem min haaretz._

He took a bite of the maror, the bitter herb, and smiled a little at the small choked sounds that accompanied the rest of the room following suit.

Then it was time to make the sandwich, and because he was both experienced and fast, he finished his quickly and watched as everyone else put theirs together. Cassie tried to fit everything on the bottom piece of matzah, using the charoset like mortar to keep it together. Billy showed Teddy what to do, Noh-Varr was putting far more maror on his than was ritualistically necessary, America and Kate's were overflowing.

They said the prayer and poured more wine, and everyone shifted eagerly as they anticipated the _food_ coming their way.

Eli stood up.

"Okay, so we've reached the end of the story, but definitely not the end of the feast. This is a little awkward, but Passover is supposed to be a family thing, with impatient kids and all that, so we're adding a bit of that in. When I was a kid I wasn't the most patient of little boys and so finally the family decided to shorten the storytelling. With songs."

He held up his battered haggadah. "So these are the family haggadahs and I know it makes it longer, but I thought it would be fun to sing at least one song here. They're set to the tunes of various musical songs."

Everyone looked at Billy.

"Wait what? C'mon guys, just because I'm gay doesn't mean I like musical theater. You don't really think I can sing do you?"

"He really can't," Tommy supplied, earning a glare from his brother.

"I'm gay and like musical theater!" David immediately said. His cheeks darkened when everyone looked at him. "I mean uh, I'm Bi, but the point is the same. Someone just give me the lyrics?"

Tommy decided to poke a little fun at him. "They're in the haggdah. I could help you find them if you want."

"No I um, which should we do?"

"I always liked Anything Goes."

"Like the musical?" Teddy asked. "I know that one!"

"You two should sing it!" Cassie suggested. After a little but of urging, he agreed.

"In olden days when Pharaoh thundered,  
The Hebrew in sav'ry wondered,  
Does Heaven know?  
When can we go?" he started. Then he got up and began to dance.

"A man arose, his name was Moses,  
What do you suppose his news was?  
To end our woe,  
It was time to go!"

Teddy sang, David nodded to himself reading through some of the other songs, silently pronouncing the lyrics. "What about 'When You Are Free?' he finally said when Teddy had finished and the room had become quiet again. "To the tune of When You're a Jet."

"If you do that you have to snap!" America called.

"Of course." David stood up and began rythmically snapping. "Ready for this ladies?" Tommy wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure Cassie was the only girl that didn't roll her eyes.

"When you are free,  
You'll be free all the way.  
Let the pharaoh decree!  
You won't have to obey!"

Tommy jumped up and began snapping opposite David.

"When you are free,  
You won't suffer the lash.  
When you do a day's work,  
You will get a day's cash!" He responded.

David sang the next verse and then suddenly they were in a duet. That's what it's called when two people sing the same song at different pitches, right? Damn, David was good at this.

By the time they had all gotten some food and started singing 'Master of the Jews' to the tune of 'Master of the House' everyone had drunk a little too much wine and had been sitting a little too long. The chorus was messy and slurred and off-tune and great. Tommy smiled as he sang, "master of the Jews, just a rotten kid! /Can't he see we need another pyramid?/ Foolish little man, doesn't Moses know/ Pharoah's never gonna let the Hebrews go!" with the rest of his... family, these people were his family.

The warm feeling in his stomach at that realization was definitely from the wine. Definitely not from David's hand on his shoulder as he started to literally buzz, and definitely not from how happy Billy looked in Teddy's arms, or how obviously Kate was leaning on America as they ate dinner and drained their cups.

**Author's Note:**

> Songs from here: http://www.templerodefshalom.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Sedersongs2012-all.pdf


End file.
